Electronics City Police discovered on Tuesday, 16 March, that Hitesha Chandranee, the alleged victim who accused a Zomato delivery boy, Kamaraj of assault, has left Bengaluru.
This comes a day after Kamaraj filed a counter FIR against Chandranee for allegedly hitting him with slippers and abusing him repeatedly for the delayed delivery of her food order
The FIR has been filed in the Electronic City police station against Hitesha Chandranee under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 355(assault or criminal force), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, News18 reported.
Chandranee, a model and make-up artist, had on March 9 posted a video on Instagram claiming that Kamaraj had assaulted her for complaining against him over late delivery of food.
“An FIR was registered against Hitesha, the woman, who claimed to be attacked by a Zomato delivery man,” a police officer said, as quoted by PTI
Following the lodging of Kamaraj’s complaint, Chandranee’s home address was leaked on the internet. Chandranee had safety concerns, since the case has sparked several debates on social media, with support for Kamaraj and the plight of other delivery boys during the pandemic.
“She feels afraid staying here as people might come to her home to speak to her about the FIR,” said a police offer to The News Minute, noting that the leak of her postal address compromised her safety and privacy.
The incident has led to divided opinions and heated debate on social media about who was the real victim. After the initial shock, however, public opinion seemed to sway in Kamrahj’s favour after he claimed he was innocent.
Zomato also backed their employee while ordering a strict probe into the incident. The company’s founder Deepinder Goyal also released an official statement on the matter. “Kamraj has made 5,000 deliveries for us so far, and has a 4.75/5 star rating on our platform (which is one of the highest) and has been working with us for 26 months now (these are facts, not opinions or inferences),” the statement read.
